r0g_newsletter: Autumn 2024Updates on r0g_agency projects
r0g_newsletter: autumn 2024
Dear friends and colleagues, this newsletter, with updates on our different projects and activities in the past few months, introduces, amongst others, two projects – #YoMIL and #FemPeaceEA – that focus on women in media and feminist peace networks.
As this is only a snapshot of our work please feel free to contact us for more information and visit our websiteand social media.
Yours,
the r0g_team
Breaking Barriers: #YoMIL Introduced to Transform Gambian Media for Young Women.
On October 9, 2024, the Young Women in Media and Information Literacy Initiative (#YoMIL) was officially introduced in The Gambia at a landmark event held in Kololi, bringing together government officials, civil society members, and media professionals. This initiative aims to promote the inclusion of young women in The Gambia’s media sector by providing media and information literacy (MIL) training to overcome gender-based discrimination and foster a free, diverse, and independent media landscape.
The event included a panel discussion on women’s role in media and strategies for overcoming gender-based challenges. This was followed by expert brainstorming sessions held on October 10 and 11, focusing on developing the Young Women in Media Guide to support young women in navigating the media sector. In the coming months, the project will feature regional sprints, a social media campaign, and a podcast to raise awareness, culminating in The Gambia’s first-ever Women in Media Summit in May 2025. The project is made possible through funding of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).
On October 11, 2024, our first cohort of 15 fellows graduated from the Africa Fact-Checking Fellowship – Ethiopia (AFF-ETH), marking a significant step forward in the fight against disinformation.
AFF-ETH is one of the programs implemented under the #defyhatenow-Ethiopia initiative and funded by the European Union, empowers citizens with fact checking skills and critical thinking to promote truth in their community. The fellowship, launched on June 15, 2024, provided intensive training for over three months to a cohort of eight women and seven men in Shashemene, Oromia region.
Combining online and offline learning methods, the program equipped fellows with the knowledge and skills to become professional fact-checkers. Congratulations to our first AFF-ETH graduates!! read more….
We are pleased to introduce the East African Feminist Peace project – FemPeaceEA. The initiative aims to strengthen grassroots feminist organizations in East Africa (Ethiopia, Kenya, South Sudan, and Uganda) through capacity and network building to enhance women’s full and meaningful participation in conflict prevention and peacebuilding processes.
The project’s overall objective is to strengthen the digital media skills, digital advocacy, feminist leadership, feminist self-care, and collective care capacity of women-led grassroots organizations for East African peacebuilding.
Additionally, FemPeaceEA seeks to encourage collaborations and coalitions between grassroots feminist organizations across borders, working together to shape gender-responsive, inclusive, and transformative feminist sustainable peace. Currently, the FemPeaceEA has partnered with 15 organizations in Uganda and Ethiopia and is in the process of partnering with more organizations in Kenya and South Sudan.
FemPeaceEA was initiated by Blen Gebrehiwot Desta at r0g_agency (Germany) in collaboration with Hive Colab (Uganda) as the implementing partner. The project is funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).
#defyhatenow CAMEROON
In September, Stephen Kovats co-initiator of the #defyhatenow project travelled to Cameroon to meet with people form the #defyhatenow community and partners, hosted by the Civic Watch #defyhatenow team. He visited different areas of Cameroon where the initiative is being implemented, amongst others an #AFFC training in Yaounde, engaging with Journalists from the three Northern Regions through a #Media4Peace training in Garoua and meeting local partners in Douala. Back in Yaounde he had the opportunity to visit the Club des Jeunes Aveugles Rehabilités du Cameroun – CJARC, as well as the Media Observatory of the Ministry of Communications. A visit with the CivicWatch team on invitation of the Ambassador of Germany to Cameroon, Dr. Corrina Fricke closed the two-week visit.
#defyhatenow in Cameroon seeks to support those voices acting against the conflict to go ‘viral’ within and outside the country – bringing the diaspora into the online peacebuilding framework, bridging gaps of knowledge and awareness of social media mechanisms between those with access to technology and those without. The project is funded by the German Federal Foreign Office
#ASKnet – The Access to Skills & Knowledge network
In a year which has seen South Sudan’s prospect of long-overdue national elections fade, evermore focus is given to local initiatives led by young social innovators.
The #ASKnet consortium linking South Sudan and refugee settlements in Northern Uganda has been engaged in a series of collaborative initiatives such as the ‘South Sudanese Women’s Leadership in Displacement’ dialogues and the #EcoTechRevolution project tackling the issues of e-waste, both strengthening cross-border ties between refugee and home communities. While some of the members are strengthening hands-on media development skills through the #ASKmobileLab project reaching remote refugee villages, #MentorHer focuses on media and information literacy skills for girls and young women, enabling them to return to or better participate in local schools.
With new members expected to join the network before the close of 2024, the #ASKnet remains dedicated to the aim of building a transformative and sustainable open society and a South Sudanese-led professional media skills ecosystem.The project is made possible through funding of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development.read more….
CONFERENCE PARTICIPATION
1. HACKING ALIENATION: Migrant Power, Art & Tech
Defeating systemic alienation and oppression through art and technology. Curated by Tatiana Bazzichelli (Director, Disruption Network Lab, IT/DE) In collaboration with Untold Stories and r0g_agencySaturday, September 21, 2024 Subverting Alienation With Moro Yapha (Migration and Human Rights Advocate, GM/DE), Stella Nyanzi (Activist, Poet and Digital Rights Defender, UG/DE), Nyima Jadama (Activist & Moderator, GM/DE). Moderated by Mo Radwan (Project Lead, Tactical Tech, EG/US/DE). This panel explores the pivotal role of media and technology in raising awareness and fostering community bonds among migrants and refugees. It discusses the challenges faced by migrants in Germany, Europe and beyond, and how the process of gaining agency can shift the focus from ‘being a migrant’ to ‘becoming a citizen’. Through their individual stories, speakers will also illustrate the power of media and self-advocacy in combating systemic alienation and oppression.
2. Media Assistance: Mind the Gap! A critical review of common practices and strategies – fome conference
30th of September – 1st of October
A conference in Dortmund organised by the Erich-Brost Institute for International Journalism in cooperation with the Deutsche Welle Akademie, icebauhaus, the Konrad-Adenauer Stiftung (KAS) and MICT ‘Undoing Game of Thrones’
While the fictive ‘Game of Thrones’ is about noble families fighting for control over lands abd resources, r0g_agency and icebauhaus have established a practice in which games are used to overturn these classic struggles, channelling the energy of competitiveness into active participative dialogue for a range of conflict mitigation and peacebuilding challenges.
3. Diaspora Communication in Germany: From Fragmentation to Participation
4. & 5. October 2024University of Leipzig & Livestream The event was aimed at students, scientists and interested parties who are dealing with the topic of diaspora in Germany. It offered an interdisciplinary platform for exchange between research and practice to discuss current developments and challenges of diaspora communication in Germany. r0g_agency was represented by Cosmas Combat.
________________________________________________________________ Stay tuned for the Build Peace Conference in Manila Nov.14 – 16.th 2024
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